These kids today. They’re playing with apps and computer games and learning to use a mouse. Whatever happened to tying their shoes and learning to ride a bike?

Bloomberg News

Young children are still learning to do those traditional activities, but they’re also mastering a variety of tech skills early in life — raising questions about how quickly the world is changing for kids and parents.

Take the skill of tying shoelaces, for example. In a recent survey, 14% of kids age 4 or 5 could tie their shoes, while 21% could play or operate at least one smartphone app.

In the same study, which polled 2,200 mothers in several developed countries, 22% of children that age knew at least one Web address, 34% could open a Web browser and 76% could play an online computer game. By comparison, 31% knew to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency, 35% could get their own breakfast (which we assume doesn’t mean making eggs) and 53% knew their home address. (A full 67% could ride a bike, which makes your Digits blogger feel bad for not learning until she was well into elementary school.)

The study also found some interesting differences among countries — like the fact that 30% of children between the ages of 2 and 5 in the U.S. could operate smartphone apps, while 11% of kids in Japan could. About 70% of young children in the U.K. and France could play computer games, compared with 61% in the U.S. and 44% in Japan.

But what does all of that mean? Tying, for instance, is typically listed as a developmental milestone reached by the time a child is 5 or 6. But it’s unclear at what age children should be learning to use apps, which don’t all require fine motor skills. We at Digits know of one kindergartener who is a whiz at “Angry Birds” and doesn’t yet know how to tie her shoes. This seems pretty normal.

The survey, released by Internet security company AVG Technologies, seems meant to show parents just how much their kids are using technology, so parents can be aware of potential risks their kids are facing. That’s an important point, but the results also raise questions about how much we should be teaching our kids, and when.

Is the child who can play with smartphone apps by age 2 a tech genius, or is touchscreen usage something we should expect of a toddler? Do we need a new list of developmental milestones that takes technology into account? And should we be concerned if children learn to navigate the Web before they can write their name?

Readers, what do you think? Do you have young kids who have mastered things like apps? And how should we view the use of technology by very young children?